


let me love you

by orphan_account



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Ed is trying his best, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Angst, No Romance, Set around 02x09, So basically Oswald is babey, Sulking, Trans!Oswald, Wholesome, taking care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-21 14:30:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18704227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Oswald wakes up one morning and realized it's that time of the month. Edward isn't sure how to react, but certainly tries to.





	let me love you

Edward stood on his tiptoes to reach the highest cupboard and grabbed a pair of breakfast bowls. Although it was Sunday and he therefore didn’t have work, he was always early to rise; the radio quietly playing in the background had just announced the time to be six twenty. It was also rather agonizing to sleep on the sofa with his long limbs overflowing from the armrests and the messed up wiring burying into his back. It was simply better to get up from the hellish excuse of a bed.

He poured himself some cereal and went to grab the milk from the fridge when his eyes glanced over his open plan apartment. Shuffling in his bed had caught his attention. He observed the curled up ball, which was Mr. Oswald Cobblepot underneath a hefty blanket, hand frozen mid-air. Ed returned on Earth when the slump stopped moving, and he resumed pouring the milk in his cereal. He topped it off with throwing two spoonful’s of cocoa powder over the meal and walked up to the sofa while stirring the mess in the bowl. He sat down, still keeping an eye out for Cobblepot, while reaching for the radio and put it on a bit louder. Not loud enough to interrupt the small man’s sleep, though.

Ed was on his last bite of the soggy cereal when the blanket begun moving again. This time the move was permanent, and Oswald’s pale face peeked from under the covers with the familiar annoyed expression. Edward placed the bowl on the coffee table and stood up, smiling politely.

“Good morning, Mr. Penguin”, he greeted, slightly unsure whether to approach the sleepy man.

“Mmh...”, Oswald uttered and rubbed his tired eyes.

“What would you like for breakfast? We’ve got some cereal, bread, maybe three scoops of peanut butter, a banana?” He waltzed over to the kitchen space while talking, observing his options. Oswald had really drained their food supplies in the past couple of weeks – the man seemed to be always hungry and kept constantly calling Ed during work hours to ask for stupid things like where the mayonnaise was or when Ed was going to buy more pickles.

“Nothing. My stomach hurts.”

“Come on. You need to have something so that you can heal”, Edward pressed on.

“Fuck”, he heard from the bed and turned to look at the other with slight confusion.

“That unfortunately isn’t in the menu”, he chuckled and peered around the corner at the raven-haired man. His smile faded a bit when he saw Oswald’s expression. The man had sat up as straight as one could with a healing bullet wound in their shoulder and was staring at the blanket with a rageful expression. Edward’s eyes darted to a dark red stain on the cover on top of Oswald.

“Did the bandages bleed through?” the brunette’s voice was full of worry as he abandoned the kitchen and quickly walked over the Oswald.

“NO!” Oswald exclaimed so suddenly it made Edward jump and immediately freeze in place. Oswald’s face had flushed slightly red and he was trying to look at anywhere besides Ed. “I- I’m fine. Go away.”

Edward tilted his head with a pout. “You’re bleeding. Obviously you’re not fine.”

“I’m not having this conversation with you”, Oswald grunted and slithered back under the covers, turning his back to Ed as much as possible. Edward stood still for a minute but defied all of Oswald’s orders and sat on the edge of the bed.

“I want to help you if you’re hurt”, he said as calmly as possible. He didn’t want Cobblepot to get a massive temper tantrum the first thing in the morning.

“I’m. Not. Hurt!” Oswald mumbled into the blanket with a raising aggression in his voice. “It... it just happens sometimes.” Edward furrowed his brows slightly and as the room fell silent, he also fell into his thought. Oswald had no major wounds except for the bullet wound near his shoulder, and the placement of the blood stain was closer to the man’s hips anyway...

The realization hit Ed like a train and his whole face lit up. He sat up straight and grabbed Oswald’s shoulder – or at least what he assumed was his shoulder under the covers. “You’re menstruating”, he said so nonchalantly that Oswald removed the covers from his face in sheer confusion.

“ _What?_!” he shrieked, voice cracking. He stared in horror at Edward’s proud expression.

“Of course. How stupid of me”, Ed said and stood up from the bed, patting Oswald on the shoulder. “It’s natural, and I already knew about it-“

“What? How? W-when did you-?” Oswald seemed to struggle with deciding which question to ask first. His pale green eyes were wide as plates and the blush on his face had only deepened. Edward forced himself to calm down and looked at Oswald giddily.

“I had to cut through your binder, so I was able to get the bandages on you”, he explained as Oswald’s mouth gaped open. “I didn’t say anything about it, because. Well. Why would I have? It’s not my place to ask. But yes, I know that you’re trans.”

Oswald slowly deflated and leaned back against the pillows, letting out a long sigh. “Okay”, he said finally after what felt like an hour, and looked at Edward. “Glad we’re on the same pa-“, suddenly his expression turned back to feral and he jumped up so suddenly it made Ed flinch backwards.

“You CUT THROUGH my BINDER?!” he screamed. A vein in his head was seemingly going to pop at any moment.

“I’m sorry, I’ll get a replacement asap”, Ed raised his hands as a sign of surrender and tried to give Oswald his most reassuring smile. “Now that that’s settled, we should probably do something about... the bleeding. I could. Clean up?”

“TRY AGAIN!” Oswald yelled and disappeared underneath the blankets, heaving. “Don’t talk to me. I’m in pain and pissed off. Go. Away.”

For once Edward did as he was told. He left Oswald alone and moved swiftly into the kitchen after grabbing his empty cereal bowl. He rinsed the dirt from it and placed it on the dish rack, completely drowning in his thoughts. At around seven o’clock he dared to return to the living room-bedroom space only to find Oswald asleep, again curled up into a small ball underneath the blankets. Ed couldn’t help but think of how adorable the man looked, only a floof of black hair peeking out of the covers. Edward decided that he was going to help Oswald, whether or not his help was asked for.

An hour later Oswald woke up to the sound of the metal door rolling shut. He peeked stealthily from the cocoon he had created and saw Edward taking off his comfy-looking checkered autumn coat. There was a plastic bag on the floor at his feet. Food, perhaps, Oswald thought and twisted around to properly see the man. That was apparently the wrong move, because he felt like someone was aggressively stabbing his stomach. He sucked in air through his teeth and ran a hand across his tummy. Because he was naturally so skinny, the slightest bit of bloating was immediately noticeable. He murmured a curse word and curled up into a ball again. It seemed like the least painful pose he could pull.

“I know you said you don’t want help”, Edward opened a conversation by walking up to the bed and planting the grocery bag on Oswald’s feet, “but I beg to differ.” He emptied the bag while Oswald stayed mute under the blanket, sulking and gloomily looking at the younger man. Instead of food items like Oswald had hoped for, the bag was mostly filled with sanitary products. A package of pads, tampons, even a pair of menstrual cups. A brand new, and admittedly very comfy-looking pair of pyjamas as well as a towel. A refillable hot water bottle, and a pack of blueberry flavoured tea. Oswald stared at the stuff all the while Edward was looking extremely proud of himself.

“I didn’t know your preference, so I got one of each”, he broke the silence with a slightly nervous tone and gestured over the menstruation products. “I’ll go heat the water bottle.” He grabbed it and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Oswald alone. He creeped from the covers and grabbed the tampon packaging, looking at it with great distain. He fucking despised this feature of his body. It was already shitty enough to appear scrawnier and smaller than all the other men your age – he really did not need a monthly reminder that he did in fact have a uterus.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Oswald threw the package back on the bed as Ed returned with the heated bottle. Ed handed it over to Oswald with a soft smile. “Put it on your stomach, it’ll ease the pain.” He twirled around and returned to the doorway. Oswald busied himself with doing exactly as he’d been told and couldn’t hide an audible sigh of relief when the warmth hit his stomach. God, it felt so nice.

“I got you a little cuddle buddy”, Ed said and walked up to the bed with a grin, keeping his hands closely out of sight. Oswald raised an eyebrow and Edward revealed what he was hiding behind his back. It turned out to be quite the sizeable stuffed animal resembling a penguin. Oswald would have lied if he hadn’t thought the thing was bloody adorable. Edward gave it to him with the cutest of smiles and Oswald’s stomach fluttered. The plush was big and round, made of the softest fur Oswald had ever held.

“A _little_ cuddle buddy?” Oswald asked, but couldn’t hide his smile. Edward giggled and sat down on the bed.

“You should name him”, the brunette said. “Or her. I don’t discriminate.” Oswald rolled his eyes and looked at the plushie, still unable to contain the confusing amount of happiness he felt when holding the round fellow in his hands. It had chocolate brown eyes, full of glitter and sparkle. It reminded him of Ed’s eyes in some weird way.

“What if I call him Edward?” Oswald smiled teasingly. Ed smirked.

“So you’ll name him Edward... while spending every night in the same bed as him, clutching onto him like a baby?” Oswald flushed crimson and Edward burst into laughter. “That’s fine by me.” He gave the plushie a pat on the head before standing up and looking at Oswald fondly. Oswald was brave enough to look back. Yeah. Maybe he should call the penguin Edward. Just as a joke, of course.


End file.
